For years educators and policymakers have worried about the level of student dedication to do their best on standardized tests which are not related to any incentive (e.g., grades, or admission into college). A new study suggests that monetary incentives make a significant and substantive difference.
Braun, Kirsch and Yamamoto (2011) examined the effects of monetary incentives on 12th graders’ test outcomes on a reading assessment closely modeled on the NAEP reading test. The study’s purpose was to assess the possibility that regularly administered test results underestimate student capabilities and, therefore, the validity of the reported results.
To understand the findings one must understand the intervention, the monetary incentives. A control group and two incentive plans were randomly offered:
- Fixed incentive: Students were offered $20 at the start of the session.
- Contingent incentive: Students were offered $5 in advance and $15 for correct responses to each of two randomly chosen questions, for a maximum payout of $35.
The sample consisted of 2,600 students in a convenience sample of 59 schools in seven states.
Findings
“Monetary incentives have a statistically significant and substantively important impact on both student engagement/effort and performance overall, and for most subgroups defined by gender, race, and background characteristics. For both males and females, the effect of the contingent incentive was more than 5 NAEP score points, corresponding to one quarter of the difference in the average scores between Grades 8 and 12. In general, the effect of the contingent incentive was larger than that of the fixed incentive, particularly for lower scoring subgroups.”
Discussion
This is just one study but the importance of the study should not be underestimated. To the degree that students do not do their best on standardized tests motivates concerns for accountability issues, accurate trends in student achievement and policy interventions designed to improve educational outcomes. If substantial ‘measurement error’ exists in our assessments we are blind to the real facts. Driving educational reform blindfolded is a practice which wastes time, energy and treasure and also, more importantly, it’s destined to fail.
A quick search on issues related to high stakes standardized testing reveals a considerable amount of available research at the following sites:
- Fair Test.org
- http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/highstak.index.htm
- Appropriate Use of High-Stakes Testing in Our Nation’s Schools
- High-Stakes Testing: Opportunities and Risks for Students of Color
- High-Stakes Testing in – American Education Research Association
Reference
Braun, Henry; Kirsch, Irwin; and Kentaro Yamamoto. (2011). An experimental study of the effects of monetary incentives on performance on the 12th-grade NAEP reading assessment. Teachers College Record. Volume 113 Number 11, 2011, p. 2309-2344
http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 16008, Date Accessed: 12/20/2011.